Lamar’s Mary Scheer to receive Liz Carpenter Award

Lamar University’s Mary Scheer is a recipient of the prestigious 2012 Liz Carpenter Award for Research in the History of Women, presented by the Texas State Historical Association.

Scheer, associate professor and chair in the department of history, will receive the award at the association’s 117th annual meeting Feb. 28-March 2 in Fort Worth. Scheer is being honored as the author of “Women and the Texas Revolution,” published in 2012 by the University of North Texas Press.

The Liz Carpenter Award was established in 1992 by Elen Clarke Temple to encourage the publication of scholarly research on the history of women in Texas.

“As a 2012 recipient of the Liz Carpenter Award, I am both proud and humbled to be chosen by my peers for this recognition,” Scheer said. “My book, ‘Women and the Texas Revolution,’ places women as central to the story of Texas independence and will contribute to the teaching of Texas history at Lamar University and other institutions. I am grateful to the history department, Lamar University and the award committee for their support in my research endeavors.”

The association presents the award annually for the best scholarly book on Texas women. Each recipient receives a certificate and a monetary award.

The award honors Liz Carpenter, a fifth-generation Texan, for her commitment to the pursuit of the history of women in Texas and for her lifetime achievements in Texas and the nation. Carpenter, who died in 2010, was a journalist, author, feminist, humorist speaker and political advisor, whose career included serving as executive assistant to Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson and as staff director and press secretary to Lady Bird Johnson.

Students, educators, historians and history enthusiasts are expected to attend the historical association meeting, which will feature presentations by more than 100 historians, as well as five banquets, an exhibit hall displaying new and rare books, live and silent auctions and three historic tours of Fort Worth.

Amid activities of the annual meeting, the association will honor Scheer and other individuals who have excelled in Texas history through research, teaching and scholarship. Awards will be presented March 1 at a luncheon in the Worthington Renaissance Hotel in downtown Fort Worth.

Jan Reid of Austin is also a recipient of the award for “Let the People In: The Life and Times of Ann Richards,” published by the University of Texas Press and will also receive the Coral Horton Tullis Memorial prize for the best book on Texas published in 2012. Richard McCaslin, author of “Fighting Stock: John S. ‘Rip’ Ford,” will receive the Kate Broocks Bates Award for Historical Research.

Margie Crisp, author of “River of Contrasts: The Texas Colorado,” will receive the Ron Tyler Award for Best Illustrated Book on Texas History and Culture. Shane Garrett-Scott is recipient of the H. Bailey Carroll award for the best article to appear in the Texas State Historical Association’s Southwestern Historical Quarterly.